NIA to set up offices in Maharashtra, UP, Kerala

New Delhi: Three new centres of National Investigation Agency may come up soon in Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Kerala. According to sources, the Ministry of Home Affairs has given a go ahead for three new NIA centres to be set up in Mumbai, Lucknow and Kochi.

As per reports accessed by Zeenews, the Mumbai based centre will be headed by a DIG level officer. The team will most likely consist of 120 members. Two officers amongst them will be of the SP rank. The other two centres, Lucknow and Kochi will have two SP rank officers heading it.

According to sources, the need to set up offices for NIA in these places was necessitated after the Mumbai blasts in July. For the Mumbai blasts investigations, the NIA had to depute officers from the national capital and also had to depend on the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad for logistical support. NIA has also reportedly sent a request to the Home Ministry for another centre to be set up in Guwahati.
During the investigations pertaining to David Headley and his linkages in the city, the NIA had supposedly faced problems because of lack of infrastructure. Keeping all this in mind, the setting up of these new centres is a step in facilitating the NIA to carry on its investigations without any hindrances.